


Blonde, Bisexual, Brilliant

by TheScarletAngel



Series: What Happened to Laura [2]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Angst, Attempt at Humor, Dysfunctional Family, Family Drama, Fluff, Humor, Prequel, Tags May Change, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28221327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheScarletAngel/pseuds/TheScarletAngel
Summary: Prequel to What Happened to Laura and the games themselves. There will be alternating point of views, basically how other people see Laura. Laura will have her own chapters, though, because this is still Laura's story.
Series: What Happened to Laura [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945078





	Blonde, Bisexual, Brilliant

“When’s John coming back?” a twelve-year-old Laura asked her mother. Dr. Elle Grey looked up from what she was working on to look at her daughter. Laura stood in front of her, fiddling with a rock she had no doubt found outside and decided was interesting.

“Soon, Laura,” her mother said.

“You said that last week.”

This conversation was one the two had far too often. Laura’s father John would go off to some corner of the world and leave his wife and daughter for weeks, sometimes months on end. Laura wanted to go with him every time he left. Everyone who knew her knew that, few as they were.

“I’m sure he just got caught up with something. He’ll be back soon.”

“He’s just gonna leave again right away, though. Isn’t he?” Laura said. “That’s what he always does.”

John Grey was not a man who enjoyed remaining in one place for long periods of time. He never had been. That was how Elle and John had met. He had been in Finland, looking for something that was meant to have held significance. Elle couldn’t remember what it even was he had been looking for. But he had been in Finland, and when he left, she left with him. She had hoped that maybe for once he would settle down. That hadn’t happened. Then she had gotten pregnant, and she hoped again he would settle with her. Again, that wasn’t what happened. She raised Laura alone for the most part. Her, and the people they hired to watch Laura when she left with John on one of his hunts.

She wasn’t blind to the fact that Laura wanted her father. Laura could pretend all she wanted that she didn’t love him. She could hide behind a mask of indifference that wasn’t very good or behind her use of John’s name instead of a respectful ‘father’ or ‘dad.’ Elle knew better. Laura wanted her father.

“I don’t know, Laura. Where’s Mischa? I thought you were spending some time with him?”

“I told him I could climb up our drain pipes in under a minute and now he’s trying to do it, too.”

Elle hoped she heard Laura wrong. “He’s what?”

“Trying to climb onto the roof using the drain pipes.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

Laura had not been joking. Mischa was halfway up when Elle got outside.

“You’re already at five minutes and barely halfway up!” Laura called up to him.

“Shut up, Laura. Mischa Solokov, get down here now!” Elle yelled. “You’re going to get yourself hurt!”

“If Laura can do it, then I can do it!” came his response. 

Laura drew back slightly under Elle’s glare.

“Please, Mischa, come down! Your father is going to kill me if something happens to you!” Elle tried again.

“Make sure he kills Laura, too, then.”

Elle wanted to kill both Laura and Mischa. How could a twelve- and fourteen-year-old be so stupid?

Mischa Solokov was the son of John’s pilot Dimitri. Dimitri and John had met in a Russian prison, according to Dimitri. Elle wouldn’t have been surprised if that was actually true. Long story short, they got out together, and Dimitri became John’s pilot. Mischa was two years older than Laura, with a dream of becoming a pilot like his father. Laura had a dream of becoming an archaeologist, partly like her father, and claimed Mischa was going to be her pilot.

Neither would happen if they both continued doing dumb shit like this.

“Mischa, you know Laura’s lying.”

“I am not!”

“She cannot climb the drain pipes of a three-story mansion in under a minute. It is physically impossible. Come down before you hurt yourself,” Elle tried to bargain with the boy. While it was true Laura couldn’t climb the pipes in under a minute, she still did it quicker than most people could. It was impressive, Elle could admit that, but that still didn’t mean she wanted Laura doing it. She’d have another talk with Laura later about that.

Mischa paused his climbing, then started climbing down. Laura scoffed behind Elle. Again, Elle glared at Laura. Mischa still jumped down at a height he should not have jumped down at.

These two were going to give her a heart attack.

“Can you two please just do things that won’t put your lives at risk?” Elle asked. “I have work that needs to get done.”

“I guess,” Laura muttered. “Come on, Meeshka. Let’s see who can climb a tree faster.”

Elle watched the two walk away, with Mischa going over once more how to pronounce his name to Laura. Laura knew how to say her friend’s name, but like with every situation she was in, Laura liked to cause problems. So she said it very wrong.

Back inside the house, Elle watched the two climb an oak. Laura had a better time making it up than Mischa. She shook a head at the two. They were going to be the death of her.

“Idiootteja,” she muttered, shuffling through stacks of papers.

The phone on her desk rang.

“This is Dr. Elle Grey,” she said.

“It’s John. Do you have a minute?” her husband asked.

“Of course.”

“Is Laura there?”

“No. She’s outside with Mischa. They’re trying to see who can get up a tree faster.”

“They’re going to hurt themselves.”

“I just stopped Mischa from trying to climb to the roof using the drain pipes because Laura said she could do it faster. I’d rather them climb the tree,” Elle said. John sighed. It wasn’t the first time he had heard of something like this. “Now, what is it? You said you would be back last week. I know Laura misses you, even if she won’t say it. I miss you, too.”

“I know what I said, and I meant to come back last week. Something happened that pushed back my plans by a few days.”

This was a conversation Elle had with John far too often.

“But,” he continued, “when I come back you and Laura won’t have to worry about me leaving again.”

Elle sat back in her chair. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve just about had enough of this life. Before I left, I was contacted by the Raccoon Police Department. They say they could use my expertise in my field,” John explained to her. “I wouldn’t have to be away from you and Laura so often.”

“Your field is archaeology. What use does a police department have for that?” Elle asked. 

“We’re going to go over the details when I get back, but they mentioned something about an elite team filled with the best. Look, I have to get going, but we’ll talk more when I get back, okay? I’ll see you soon. Make sure Laura stays out of trouble.”

He hung up the phone. Elle set down her own. That was John. No ‘I love you.’ No set time for his return. Just cryptic words and a notice to make sure Laura didn’t get into too much trouble. Basically, make sure Laura didn’t act too much like him. Laura and John were so similar, it was almost scary.

Elle sighed and looked back out the window. Laura was sitting on a branch maybe fifteen or twenty feet up. Mischa looked like he was trying to get up to her, but was struggling to even get up the first few branches. Elle thought about going out to tell Mischa to give up, that he wouldn’t be able to get up, if only to make sure Mischa didn’t kill himself. Laura had climbed that tree dozens of times. Elle had given up trying to tell Laura to stop. Like John, Laura wasn’t keen on staying put. 

She wondered what had changed to make John want to stay with them. John had only been down to Raccoon City a handful of times, even though that was the closest city to their solitary mansion in the Arklay Forest. Elle worked in the hospital in Raccoon, so she frequented the city often, and she would bring Laura with her as much as she could. Laura needed the interaction. But Elle knew why John didn’t go down there. It was because John’s older brother Alistair lived in the city. According to John, they had never gotten along, and their dislike for one another had only heightened when Alistair started working for the pharmaceutical company, Umbrella. It made her wonder why John didn’t just move himself and his family away from everything.

“Mom!”

Elle shook herself from her thoughts. Laura stood in front of her. Mischa lingered in the hallway.

“Are you okay?” Laura asked.

“I’m fine. What is it, Laura?”

“Can we go to the city? Mischa just told me he has never tried one of Mary’s raspberry pastries. And I want to show him what I can do on the monkey bars in the park.”

Elle glanced over the unfinished work on her desk. It could wait.

“Sure.”

Laura may not have had a father, but she had her mother, and Elle would be damned if anything took her away from her child.


End file.
